1 million Venezuelan migrants to get legal status in Colombia

Venezuelan migrants and asylum seekers in Colombia will receive protected status for up to ten years, Colombian President Ivan Duque announced on Monday with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees- Filippo Grandi. Venezuelans who came in Colombia before January 31, 2021, may reside in the country for a decade under the new rules. Protecting a protected resident status will also allow migrants to work legally and help them integrate into society.

During the meeting, Duque said that Venezuelans had left their country "because of the government and poverty" and that "it pains us to see these happenings."

According to the United Nations, some 5.4 million Venezuelans have left their homeland in a crippling economic disaster, as well as intimidations of violence, political uncertainty, and a lack of essential goods and aids.

More than 1.7 million Venezuelans now reside in neighboring Colombia, of which about 966,000 have no legal status in the country, according to Colombia's migration authorities.

Most come without money and informally - through temporary border passages and without the mandatory paperwork or migration stamp to obtain access to lawful work or health care.

Migration authorities are now placing more emphasis on encouraging migrants and asylum seekers to enter Colombia via formal checkpoints.

Humanitarian organizations and policymakers in Colombia and abroad welcomed the announcement on Monday.

"The requirements of Venezuelans in Colombia are growing every day, exacerbated by the effects of the [coronavirus] pandemic," said Marianne Menjivar, director of the International Rescue Committee, Colombia and Venezuela.

"Colombia has become the nation in South America that offers the largest number of Venezuelan migrants ... Regulatory initiatives such as those announced today are a step towards the protection of people living in vulnerable conditions and empower them with tools to rebuild their lives, "she said in a statement.

Hugh Aprile, director of Mercy Corps in Colombia, also viewed the decision as 'historic.'

"This is an important first step in helping to ensure the integration of this population that has been marginalized due to their illegal status," said Aprile, who added, however, that Venezuelan migrants still face major challenges, for instance, access to education, health and other services.

"To solve these problems, the government, the private sector, and NGOs across the country will be supported," Aprile said.

However, some witnesses have displayed attention about the government's ability to grant logistically preserved status to so many Venezuelan migrants and asylum seekers and provide them with financial access to social services.

Colombia does not receive nearly as much international aid funding compared to other global migration crises, such as Syria and Sudan, declared Sergio Guzman, director of Colombia Risk Analysis, a contingency consulting firm in Bogota.

Analysts at the Brookings Institution estimated in December 2019 that the international community spent $ 580 million in the first four years of responding to the Venezuelan displacement crisis, compared to $ 7.8 billion spent in the first four years of the Syrian refugee crisis.

"Colombia is underfunded, with a clear fiscal deficit, and` will have to sell government assets to finance its current levels of spending, which is likely to increase with additional demand from Venezuelan citizens," Guzman told Al Jazeera.

He praised Colombia's continued efforts to accommodate those fleeing neighboring Andean people.

"Colombia's treatment of Venezuelan migrants has long been a stark contrast to how other countries, particularly in Europe and North America, are addressing the plight of people fleeing political and economic unrest," he said.